The day I went to a church and a castle

Sundays are our free days during PST, so I have a feeling I'm going to be making the most of them.  I started off strong this Sunday by waking up early (for me and the Georgians) and going to church with Rezo and Nazi.  Ruisi may be small, but they have a couple different churches.  We went to the one near school, the smaller, "newer" one (which is still hundreds of years old.  They were already started by the time we got there, and the service lasted for two hours.  Sure, I'm used to church being three hours long, but during this service, we stood the entire time.  I won't complain about wooden pews again.
Although I didn't understand most of what was going on (but I did understand a few words here and there, so I guess I'm learning), the service was interesting.  The majority of it was readings and songs from a few different people involved.  There were candles and saints and Rezo rang bells.  There were only about 25 people in attendance, but what really impressed me was the kids that were there. Most of them were there without parents and as young as 5.  I have heard that the Georgian Orthodox Church is having a bit of a comeback with younger generations, and now I believe it. The kids came on their own and were well behaved. Not your average sunbeams.
After church and lunch, I headed in with others from my cluster to explore Gori.  The first stop was the castle that is poised on a hill in the middle of the city.  It is the perfect place for a castle: great views and easy to defend.  Definitely gives new meaning to King of the Hill. The castle is now in ruins a bit, but serves as a park.  Case in point: a group was doing Tae Kwon Do while we were there.
We also found another group of fellow Trainees and hung out with them for the rest of the day.  It was a well-spent day off and a great taste of this corner of Georgia.